Category: Visuals
Film-making
Country: Malaysia

About

Born in 1958, Yasmin Ahmed was an acclaimed Malaysian film maker. Beginning her career through her work in television commercials, Yasmin created the advertisements for the Malaysian oil firm Petronas. In her commercial work, Yasmin wove emotionally charged parables about contemporary society, and her advertisements earned her several awards and nominations.¹ 

In her lifetime, Yasmin produced six films that chronicled the socio-economic and racial politics of Malaysia. In her well-known film, Sepet, a 19-year-old Chinese boy who sells VCDs and a 16-year-old Malay school girl fall in love as they talk about poetry and films. Through their story, Yasmin portrays a complex narrative which comments on a variety of Malay issues such as mixed racial couples, evolving languages, and the relationship between Chinese, Malay and Indian peoples in Malaysia.²  The film was one of the first to reflect how Malay people talk in everyday life by showing the linguistic blends of English and Malay in conversations. Amir Muhammad, a fellow Malaysian filmmaker, admired her choice to reflect Malaysia’s diversity. “Most films in Malaysia are only in Malay, but she saw our multicultural heritage as a blessing rather than a burden, which is how her films gained their colourful mix of languages and people.”³ 

Yasmin’s other films include Rabun, Gubra, Mukhsin, Muallaf, and Talentime. Yasmin’s films have been shown at numerous film festivals and won several awards, including Most Original Story and Best Film by the Malaysian Film Festival for Sepet in 2005 and Best Screenplay and Best Film by the Malaysia Film Festival for Gubra in 2006. Yasmin also received the Berlin International Film Festival Grand Prix award, which was awarded by the Kinderfilmfest International Jury and Generation K-Plus Crystal Bear.⁴ 

[1] Amir Muhammad, “A Dreamer’s Dream,” Aquila Asia, February 24, 2010.
[2] “Sepet,” WorldCinema.com.
[3] “Sepet,” WorldCinema.com.
[4] ibid.